Last weekend, I went to Ranthambhore, home to a large National Park about 4 hours from Jaipur. Ranthambhore National Park is known for its tiger population, and we were heading off to see if we could spot any of the striped cats. Although *spoiler alert* we didn't see any tigers, it was still a wonderful trip.
The hotel was gorgeous, set in a lush, green oasis, with huge rooms and an overall peaceful atmosphere. It is fascinating how much the scenery can change in 4 hours: we left the desert landscape of Jaipur for the leafy, green setting of Ranthambhore. The rooms were all in separate villas, and the beds were inexplicably enormous.
 |
| View from the hotel room |
 |
| Me and Molly (we got bindis and necklaces of marigolds at the entrance of the hotel) |
 |
| Our very large bed |
Saturday afternoon we explored Ranthambhore Fort, which is set atop this mountain that we hiked up. We spent some time roaming around the old temples, exploring the ruins, and taking pictures of the abundance of monkeys that were leaping around. Saturday night we enjoyed a chai break outside of our room, followed by traditional Rajasthani music and dancing. One of the girls pulled me up to dance with her, and I gave it my best shot, to the amusement of my friends.
 |
| Ranthambhore Fort |
Sunday morning we woke up at 545, got bundled up in several layers, and set out in a jeep to the national park. It was incredible. We drove on this dirt road, bouncing up and down (and nearly falling out at several points). The sun was just rising and the entire place glowed. It is very rare to see a tiger, and we didn't come across any. We did see tiger prints and, more excitingly, two leopards, which are also super rare. They were on top of this mountain pretty far away, so we could only make out their silhouettes, but it was still an impressive experience. The guide and the driver were so excited by it, we sat there for nearly 45 minutes and they didn't want to leave.
 |
| Safari selfie |
 |
| Watering hole |
 |
| Tiger prints! |
 |
| Another tiger print |
 |
| To the right of the tree, you can just barely make out the head of one of the leopards we saw. My friend Janie has some better photos I will hopefully add soon |
After the safari we had a large buffet breakfast and then came back to Jaipur, where I began my penultimate week!
No comments:
Post a Comment